Chicago’s Marc Trestman and the Eagles’ Chip Kelly find themselves in similar situations going into Sunday’s edition of Sunday Night Football, except they took different routes with different expectations to get to where they are.

Trestman — who, if things go the right way for him Sunday, can clinch the NFC North title with a win over the Eagles or if things don’t go his way, can do it next week with a win over the rival Green Bay Packers — tried the conventional way to becoming a head coach.

The 56-year-old Minnesota native worked as an assistant for six NFL teams before he had to leave the NFL and go coach in Canada for five years. A couple of Grey Cups later, the Bears called and offered him their head coaching job.

If it wasn’t surprising enough that the Bears job was even available, it was just as surprising that Trestman was the guy the Bears wanted.

Coaching in the Land of Ditka, Trestman took over a team that won 10 games a year ago under a pretty good head coach in Lovie Smith. Nothing less than that would be good enough, and at 8-6, Trestman isn’t going to do any better record-wise. If he wins the division, however, all will be fine, and the jokes about punting on third down will end.

The 50-year-old Kelly, who can also win a division Sunday if Dallas loses at Washington and his Eagles beat the Bears or can just beat the rival Cowboys next week to win it, is the college guy in the professional club. Jeffrey Lurie hired him to replace Andy Reid, the winningest coach in Eagles history, right from the college ranks without one game of NFL sideline experience.

Even though he is also 8-6 with a team that won just four games a year ago and looked really bad doing it, Kelly still has detractors. One of them actually asked him 14 games into his first year and with a good share of Coach of the Year votes being counted, if he
thought of himself as a “professional” coach.

This far into December, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly has only been a "professional coach" for "eight games."Martin Griff/The Times

Kelly, who ranks with Buddy Ryan and Ray Rhodes as entertaining Eagles head coaches when it comes to responses (only unlike Rhodes, we can actually print Kelly’s responses), answered his questioner with this quip, “For eight games, I’ve felt like a professional; for six games, I haven’t.”

Trestman and Kelly are two of seven NFL head coaches in their first year as NFL head coaches. Reid is in his first year with Kansas City but had 14 years with the Eagles in case you’ve forgotten.

All seven seem to at least be on the right track, and while some will get there sooner than others, here’s a look at how the other five have fared with two weeks to go in the season.

• Bruce Arians, Arizona: Another long-time assistant who finally got a chance at age 61, Arians has done a nice job with the Cardinals.

At 9-5, he actually has the best record of any of the new coaches, but playing in the tough NFC West, it’s going to be tough for his club to make the playoffs.
Still, after a 5-11 season a year ago and a guaranteed first winning season in the desert since 2009, there shouldn’t be any complaining about the job Arians has done in his first year.

• Doug Marrone, Buffalo: Marrone, who came from Syracuse to the NFL, gets a mulligan in his first season after he lost his hand-picked rookie quarterback EJ Manuel for a good chunk of the season. The Bills were 2-2 when the rookie went down and are now 5-9, but they not playing terrible football.

For an organization that hasn’t had a winning record since 2004 and hasn’t made the playoffs since 1999, miracles aren’t expected. Marrone seems to know what he’s doing and has some good, young players on the roster. If Manuel is one of them, the Bills could be looking at better days ahead.

• Rob Chudzinski, Cleveland: Chudzinski, the former Carolina offensive coordinator, is the hardest to judge in his rookie year. Mainly because Cleveland, thanks to its past regime, has such little talent. This is a team with that draft master Tom Heckert who selected quarterback Brandon Weeden and running back Trent Richardson in the first round of the same draft.

Cleveland Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski has done a good job with a bare cupboard.Phil Masturzo/Akron Beacon Journal

Cleveland looked like it was playing well with Brian Hoyer at quarterback and Weeden on the bench, but Hoyer then got hurt. The Browns are 4-10 and headed for their sixth straight year of either four or five wins.

It’s a bad organization loaded with bad players and no quarterback. They do have two first-round picks again next year after they were able to dump Richardson. Let’s see if they can make Chudzinski’s job a little easier.

• Gus Bradley, Jacksonville: Bradley, the former Seattle defensive coordinator, took over the worst team of the bunch and was winless through his first eight games.The Jags, after their bye week, then came out and won four of their next five games, losing only to Arizona. That says something about the coaching right there.

Bradley has a ways to go to get Jacksonville near contention, but his division isn’t extremely tough. If he can get a good draft class in ’14 and maybe a key free agent, who knows?

• Mike McCoy, San Diego: If McCoy, the former Denver offensive coordinator, did nothing else this year, he got quarterback Philip Rivers back on track, which is one of the reasons he was hired.

He also has wins over Denver, Kansas City and Indianapolis (three playoff teams) and the Eagles and Dallas (one of which will be a playoff team). Only New Orleans has as many quality wins as the Chargers.

Unfortunately, McCoy has also overseen losses to Houston, Tennessee and Oakland, three teams with a combined 11-31 record.

Matt Flynn (10) and the Green Bay Packers are still alive in the NFC North division.Ron Jenkins/Fort Worth Star-Telegram

AROUND THE LEAGUE
PLAYOFF RACES
NFC EAST: You should know this by now, but it’s down to the Eagles (8-6) and Cowboys (7-7). The Eagles could clinch Sunday if Dallas loses at Washington and they beat Chicago. If not, it comes down to next week when the Eagles travel to Dallas.NFC NORTH: Three teams are still alive for the title: Chicago (8-6), Green Bay (7-6-1) and Detroit (7-7). The Bears can clinch Sunday if the other two lose and they beat the Eagles. If all three win, the Lions would be eliminated, and it would come down to Green Bay at Chicago in a winner-take-all next week.NFC SOUTH: New Orleans (10-4) and Carolina (10-4) meet Sunday basically for the division title. If the Saints can win on the road (where they are 3-4 this season), they win the division. If the Panthers win at home (where they are 6-1), all they would have to do is win next week at Atlanta to claim the crown. The winner of the division would also get a first-round bye in the playoffs. The loser of this battle will likely be the second wild-card but could catch San Francisco for the top wild card spot.NFC WEST: Seattle (12-2) needs just one more win against either Arizona Sunday or St. Louis next week (both at home) or a San Francisco (10-4) loss to either Atlanta tomorrow night or Arizona next week to clinch the division. The 49ers need just one more win or an Arizona (9-5) loss to clinch a wild-card berth. San Francisco has the edge on both Carolina and New Orleans for the top wild-card spot if they finish with the same record.AFC EAST: New England (10-4) needs just one more win over Baltimore or Buffalo or one Miami (8-6) loss to either Buffalo or the Jets to win the division. Miami can clinch the second wild-card spot if it wins out and Baltimore loses to either New England or Cincinnati or if the Dolphins split and Baltimore loses both.AFC NORTH: Cincinnati (9-5) can win the division by beating Baltimore (8-6) next week or by beating Minnesota Sunday and having Baltimore lose to New England. If the Ravens win out, they win the division. The Ravens also win the tiebreaker over Miami for the wild-card berth, while the Bengals lose the tiebreaker to Miami for a wild-card berth. Pittsburgh (6-8) is somehow alive but needs a five-way tie at 8-8 to grab the last wild-card spot. Don’t ask.AFC WEST: Denver (11-3) and Kansas City (11-3) are tied, but the Broncos own the tie-breaker based on a head-to-head sweep of the Chiefs. The winner of the division will likely be the top seed in the playoffs (New England has a chance to catch them) while the loser will be the top wild card.

Wide receiver Keenan Allen (13) is having a fine rookie season for the San Diego Chargers.Vernon Bryant/Dallas Morning News

ROOKIE REPORT
It’s becoming a two-man race for Offensive Rookie of the Year between Green Bay running back Eddie Lacy and San Diego wide receiver Keenan Allen, and it appears Lacy has the edge. The second-round pick out of Alabama has gained 1,028 rushing yards for the Packers to go with eight touchdowns. He’s also caught 31 passes for another 236 yards. And on 248 carries on the season, he has fumbled just one time which came in the season opener against San Francisco.

EX-EAGLE UPDATE
Safety Quintin Mikell, in his 11th season, is having another good season, this time with the Carolina Panthers’ second-ranked defense. Mikell, playing for former Eagles assistant Ron Rivera, the Panthers’ head coach, and Sean McDermott, the Panthers defensive coordinator, has 47 tackles, two sacks, four passes defensed, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Mikell, an undrafted free agent out of Boise State, played for the Eagles from 2003-10. Carolina added him in September when safety Haruki Nakamura (concussion) was placed on injured reserve.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“There would be no better feeling than us beating them Sunday and we eliminate their season right there.’’
— Former Rutgers and current New England cornerback Devin McCourty on Sunday’s game against Baltimore